Archive for the ‘Faith’ Category

Saturday the 25th of September was Jenni’s 32nd birthday, I had no way of buying her the type of gift I would like to. Her friend Mikey really wanted to take her out for a spa day so I had blocked out the whole afternoon on our shared google calendar. It just said “special date” in the notes it mentioned baby sitting was arranged. She was asking me all week what this meant and I just vaguely blew her off. She kinda hates surprises but Mikey really wanted it to be a surprise so I played along.

When by 11:00 or so on Saturday she was getting really inquisitive about what to wear and all that so I gave her as much as I could without spilling the beans so she would relax about it. Finally Mikey show up and says surprise you are hanging out with me. It was kind of cool to see that Jenni was very happy to hang with a really close friend for the day but a little disappointed she wasn’t on a date with me. In our past she would have been totally happy to have the day with a friend but we are much closer now and that is a good thing!

The next week leading up to our El Paso trip I don’t remember a lot of new revelations or experiences. I continued to read the book by Bill Johnson and kind of soak in my new understanding of the “Holy Spirit” and the peace I was experiencing. Their was the mounting concern about contacting our Land Lord about being jobless and unable to pay our rent in full or on time. Fortunately he has always been more than fair with us. I knew he would be willing to work with us but you never know how someone will respond to “I lost my job and can’t pay rent”.

Wednesday evening my Mom and Grandma show up to stay at our house and watch our children during our trip to El Paso. My Mom immediately asked the question, “are you sure you want to go off to El Paso and take my Grandchildren so far away”?

We reminded her that we had no idea, that is why we had to go check it out and see where God was leading. We knew she would not try to stop us from following God’s call but she did want to be near her kids and Grand kids. it’s good to be loved and have family close by. Many times family can be used as an excuse to not follow God’s leading so we must listen and check our motives.

Monday morning mid September. Awake and motivated to do something… But what?

This is a question that constantly bombards me because I am a driven person. I don’t like to sit around collecting unemployment wondering how my bills will get paid. I feel very distracted even playing with my kids or spending time with Jenni because I feel like I should be doing something to provide. But this still small voice says, “wait on me and keep the divine appointments I have set up for you”. Your needs will be met because I have promised you this. (Insert Faith Here)

I decided my goal for the day was to begin an infinite banking whole life insurance policy with Tom who had helped my parents get started. I would fund it initially with a small IRA I had from when I used to make some decent money. Number 2 was to attend an FCCI meeting in Lake Oswego where I had met some really great people a few weeks earlier. My friend Chris from work that set up the prayer meeting had introduced me to the group and I wanted to start attending regularly.

This group is awesome, the leader owns a company called Light Speed Aviation. They make communication equipment for pilots. Anyway, he hosts the meetings in his building’s conference room and let’s them use the room as much as they want. When I showed up the table was pretty crowded so I sat by my friend down at the end. When the meeting concluded, the guy next to me introduced himself. He asks what I do and I tell him I am looking for work and that I had worked with Chris in sales. He was quick to tell me that he was looking for some good sales people and wanted to know if I was interested in interviewing. Of course I was interested, he runs an online marketing company and that is something I enjoy.

Long story short, I go and meet with him at his office later that day. He gives me the low down on what they do as a company and what the job would entail. The downside was commission only, basic telemarketing and it takes about six months to get up to a descent income. The income does become residual but the start-up part would be very challenging financially. It was clear they are great people and a solid, ethical business so I decided to just go do a half day trial on Thursday.

Phone sales is not my favorite thing to do by any stretch. I did discover that I am pretty good at it but I don’t feel it aligns with my passion enough for me top excel at it. It really would just become a “job” way too quickly. The more I prayed and considered this option the more I felt compelled to be patient and not commit myself too quickly.

In the mean time our trip to El Paso, TX was quickly approaching. I tried to spend a lot of time in prayer and seeking what God had for me leading up to the trip. I purposely did no research on the church or the city we were visiting because I wanted to experience everything with a completely unbiased and open mind.

On Wednesday, I did go and interview with our local Audi dealer. Audi makes some of my favorite cars and I was kind of excited at the thought of selling them. After a long discussion with the sales manager and learning what exactly the commitment would look like I quickly realized I couldn’t do it. My wife, kids and ministry are way too important to me to spend that much time at my place of work.

Waiting on the Lord can be very difficult for someone who just wants to get to work…

Laura began to share what she had heard from God about our situation. “God sees your faithfulness, He is going to bring great clarity to your situation soon.” She also said she sensed that He would be bringing great blessing into our lives beyond what we could comprehend at the moment.

This was something she had listened to for a couple of weeks but had waited to share until she was sure it was a message from God. It’s pretty amazing to have friends that are in close communion with “The Holy Spirit”.

By that evening I was emotionally drained and just had to soak in what I had learned and experienced. As I write this, I realize I have had more frequent peace ever since that day.

That night I picked up the book “When Heaven Invades Earth” by Bill Johnson. I had thought about reading it for a while but finally decided it was time. From the first few pages I was hooked. The timing was perfect for me to dive in and feed my hunger to learn about God’s desire to impart supernatural power into our natural world.

Over the past few weeks I have finished that book and it is incredible from start to finish. I would strongly recommend you read all of Bill Johnson’s books when you can. What inspires me the most is how it has changed my perspective.

Old me: Satisfied to be Saved.

New Me: Expecting God’s Super Natural Power revealed DAILY

Are you living a life expectant of God’s power to be revealed for His Glory?

Meeting Laura Lasky was everything that I had imagined. She is witty, hilarious, loving, caring and filled with “The Spirit”!

She and her husband Stephen have prayed for us non stop this year and on many occasions Jenni and I have gotten emails when we wake up in the morning. As we read it, we feel the Spirit move because it is exactly what we have wrestled with in our minds and Laura was praying over the very same thing. The crazy part is we never talked to her about these things until she brought them up. God totally talks to her every day!

So pleased I came home in time to chat with her before she headed back to the Bay Area.

Friday morning I got a call from a former coworker. He told me about a group of people that go around praying over businesses and actually speaking prophetic words to the owners. He invited them to come in and pray over “The Company” before he would give up on all his hard work. This was his life line.

I was intrigued and had to be there.

So we all show up at the conference room of our building. There were 4 of us that worked together and the 8-10 people were complete strangers to me. We sat around and ate some lunch while giving a quick introduction to who everyone was and what they did. The owner of the company was last and he gave a long explanation of who he was and what the story of the company had been to that point. Then it was time to start the prayer session.

All of us who worked at “The Company” sat down and the “Prayers” gathered around and laid hands on us. They began to pray and I could feel the Holy Spirit in the room. Some would give word pictures of what they were seeing others just prayed. Eventually the leader of the group came around and grabbed the owners hands and spoke some very prophetic words to him. He did this for each of my coworkers and I began to feel like God had forgotten about me.

I was longing for an anointing from the Spirit.

After each had received their word, this man came over to me. He asked me to stand up. Now I am totally nervous cause I had been balling like a baby during the prayer time.

He says, “Give me a hug”. He is way taller and thicker than me so he wraps me up with his long arms. This was one strong man hug!

Awkward!!!!

He says, “Papa wants me to tell you something. He wants you to know that He sees your faithfulness and He appreciates it. Be encouraged because he knows that things have not been clear and you have remained faithful. He is going to bring you clarity very soon and you will be blessed. He loves you so much and He is proud of you.

I totally lost it!

Here I was jealous because everyone else got a Word of encouragement and I was left out. Turns out, I got exactly what I needed and the best things do come to those who wait on the Lord.

I literally felt God’s arms around me, holding me, encouraging me to keep up the good fight. I have never felt anything like this my entire life. It was exhausting, exhilarating, and exciting.

If you have never encountered The Living God, there is no way for you to imagine what you are missing out on.

After this experience, I went home to share the story with Jenni and Laura. As soon as I had finished telling what I could remember of the experience, Laura began to tell me what God had been speaking to her…

As we drove home from La Grande, I got to do some thinking while Jenni tried to comfort Chance.

Let me back up a couple weeks.

I have been licensed to sell life and health insurance for several years. I spent a couple years trying to make a career of financial planning and building an agency. I could not quite make it work for us financially in the years I committed to it. In 2008 Jenni and I agreed it was time to pursue other endeavors. Well, even though I haven’t actively sold anything for the last couple years, I have kept my licenses current.

My parents recently told me about someone they had been introduced to. They were using life insurance policies to build up a family bank and self finance all their major purchases. I was familiar with the concept but had never really gotten educated on it. Since I had time this summer, I began looking into this more closely. After browsing their site, I was very intrigued. The first thing I noticed about them was how open they were about following Christ. This inspired me to look more closely into their model and what they teach and it quickly became clear this was a system that would work for us to better manage our money. I even saw how I could revive my insurance career.

In early August I went to a breakfast meeting in Salem to meet these people. Meeting them confirmed to me that they were very passionate and sincere. They type of people I would gladly learn from and do business with.

For several weeks I didn’t pursue any more information or conversation regarding insurance. My parents did move forward setting up a policy and began to implement the program. They encouraged us to go for it as well. On the trip home, I told Jenni I would go meet with them again and see if God was opening this door for us.

Once we got home, it was full blast into job searches, getting my resume in order and filling out endless online applications. There are thousands of openings for commission only sales jobs but I was and am fearful of being reliant on anything that is 100% commission. I have done it most of my life and I know how long it takes to get things going. On the other hand, their is nothing else that gives me the flexible schedule I want for ministry and family needs.

Sunday the 12th of September, I got a call from my Dad. He asked if I would be willing to come back and help him a few more days on his project. I aske Jenni if she was ok with me bing gone a few days and she was fine with it. Monday morning early I drove back up to La Grande to help Dad on his project for a few more days. While I was there I got to do a lot of praying, thinking and chatting with my folks.

LOTS MORE PAINTING!!!

I did some applications online too, but most importantly I let God speak into my life. He encouraged me to get home by Thursday night. So I listened and boy am I glad I did!

Jenni had a very special guest fly in to stay with her on Wednesday and I really wanted to meet her. She is our angel in the flesh and she has battled spiritually for us all year.

When I got on the phone with Jenni, I confirmed that our concerns about “The Company” were for real. We had known for some time that “The Company” might not make it. There is always inherent risk when working for a start up. Loosing my job was not a huge surprise. How suddenly and without warning it hit us was a shock.

Jenni was pretty calm with the news, but she did ask the obvious question. “What do we do now”? Of course I had a great answer that was full of faith and very re-assuring. Something like, “I don’t know”!

Honestly, I was not too worried at first. I did fully believe that God would take care of us financially. My most immediate fear was not knowing if our final payroll would be covered by the upcoming payday.

A couple days later we traveled up to La Grande to spend Labor Day Weekend with my parents. My parents have been incredibly supportive through all we have experienced recently. They are completely loving, forgiving and supportive. Staying with them has become our safe-haven where we can recharge and relax. As the weekend progressed, I began to feel the pressure of our financial responsibilities mounting. My lack of faith began to reveal itself. Ever been there?

The best part of the weekend besides hanging out with the family was helping my Dad with his building project. He is putting the finishing touches on commercial building remodel. Jenni and I both spent a lot of time painting and cleaning and whatever else was needed. It was nice to do something productive and give back a little of what my parents have given to us.

Before we knew it the time to head home had arrived. I was torn about going home. As much as we love spending time in La Grande with my folks, we love just being home with our kids but that also meant facing our situation head on. At least I had received confirmation that my final paycheck would be available for me to pick up the next day. I am sure it was a small miracle for our operations team to get that handled for us.

During our time in La Grande, we did agree to a five day trip to Texas to meet a pastor and have Jenni lead worship at their weekend services. This was a conversation that had been going on for a couple of months that we never thought would materialize. Once my schedule cleared up, we decided we should give it more serious consideration.

For us to leave our families, our friends and the beauty of the Pacific Northwest is hard to imagine. It feels like when Abram was called to leave his home land and all his family and travel to a place God would show Him. Maybe not quite so dramatic but still a big leap of faith. Stay tuned for more on this after the first week of October.

Our drive home was long and difficult, Chance who is five now was complaining of a stomach ache the entire trip. It’s about four and half hours normally but on busy weekends there can be delays and we hit one. Almost completely stopped traffic for about 40 minutes leading up to a lane closure. Alas, we made it in 6 hours crying child and all.

I would like to invite you along for the next few turns in my personal journey. It may be boring or it could get a little crazy because these are crazy times we are living in.

Whether you believe in God or not, I hope you will desire to know Him or know Him in a more intimate way after seeing what He is doing in my life. If my story intrigues you, please check back often for updates.

For a little back story on who I am read here because I am going to jump right into my present day situation.

Last year was by far the biggest growth year of my life. I learned more about myself, my wife and what it means to be refined by fire. God was with me all along, even during the months when I pushed him away.

He taught me about true forgiveness

He showed me some deep insecurities that needed to be removed

He gave me a glimpse of the depth of His love

He blessed me with a new marriage

He is teaching me the beauty of walking with Him in faith

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010 was my last day working with “The Company”.